CSS Opposes the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015, S. 544

CSS Opposes the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015, S. 544

The Honorable James Inhofe
Chairman
U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Barbara Boxer
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Inhofe and Senator Boxer:

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS), an alliance of over 150 labor, scientific, research, good government, faith, community, health, environmental, and public interest groups, strongly urges members of the Committee to oppose S. 544, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015, which will be considered this week.

The legislation would radically diminish the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to fulfill its mission. It is broadly written and would require the agency to ignore significant science when carrying out its statutory responsibilities to safeguard public health and the environment.

For instance, the bill would deny EPA the ability to rely on peer-reviewed medical studies that involve patient confidentiality. Additionally, it would effectively amend numerous environmental statutes by forbidding EPA from using certain kinds of studies in setting health standards.

Furthermore, the legislation would make it impossible for EPA to use many kinds of economic and technical models it routinely relies on because those models are proprietary. This would mark a radical departure from long-standing practices.

This legislation’s end result would be to make it much more difficult to protect the American people by forcing EPA to ignore key scientific studies and jeopardize public health. For these reasons, we strongly urge you to oppose the Secret Science Reform Act, S. 544.

Sincerely,

Katherine McFate
President and CEO, Center for Effective Government
Co-chair, Coalition for Sensible Safeguards

Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen
Co-chair, Coalition for Sensible Safeguards

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards is an alliance of consumer, labor, scientific, research, good government, faith, community, health, environmental, and public interest groups, as well as concerned individuals, joined in the belief that our country’s system of regulatory safeguards provides a stable framework that secures our quality of life and paves the way for a sound economy that benefits us all.